October 3rd, 2018
By Phyllis Hanlon
Residential, or boarding, schools serve different populations and have different goals. Schools that address behavioral issues in children admit students with a variety of diagnoses. Those diagnoses include a number of psychological and emotional issues that range from anxiety, mood and eating disorders, attention deficit hyperactive disorder (ADHD) and oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) to fire setting, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other behavioral problems. In recent years, more children have presented with a diagnosis on the autism spectrum. According to Valentina M. Parchin, Ph.D, director of education for the Adelbrook Learning Center in East Hartford, Connecticut, this agency has moved [More]
Tags: children, residential treatment, Residential schools, boarding schools, behavioral issues, Board-certified behaviorists, student, emotional issues, psychological issues., therapeutic approach
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October 3rd, 2018
By Margarita Tartakovsky, MS
Most people have heard of equine therapy, but the term asinotherapy probably would draw many blank stares. Originally developed in Germany, this lesser-known therapy is actually a successful program that uses miniature donkeys. Since 2009, it’s been an integral part of Latham Centers, a residential care, education, and treatment center for children and adults with Prader-Willi Syndrome on Cape Cod. Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) is a complex genetic disorder that affects one in 12,000 to 15,000 births. It is characterized by an insatiable appetite, developmental disabilities, skin picking, and emotional and behavioral problems. “PWS is a spectrum disorder,” said Patrice Carroll, [More]
Tags: anxiety, Prader-Willi Syndrome, asinotherapy, donkey therapy, insatiable appetite, developmental disabilities, skin picking, emotional problems, behavioral problems
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October 2nd, 2018
By Phyllis Hanlon
In 2009, the Rhode Island Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) opened the Roosevelt Benton Center and the Thomas C. Slater Training School (also called the Youth Development Center) as an “intake and assessment center for non-adjudicated youth,” according to Kerri White, MA, Rhode Island’s DCYF communications director. Last year, Eleanor Slater Hospital acquired and renovated the facility to serve a different population. White explained that, in conjunction with the Youth Development Center, the $62 million Benton Center was intended to house youth for juvenile detention; some of whom may have diagnosed mental health needs. Initially, the Benton Center [More]
Tags: youth, treatment, psychiatric patients, DCYF, mental health assessment, clinical social worker, pyschiatrist, correctional detention, Roosevelt Benton Center
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October 2nd, 2018
By Janine Weisman
On July 1, Connecticut became the 30th state in the country to require behavior analysts to obtain a license to practice what has become the best-known approach to treating children with autism. Behavior analysts help individuals change behaviors associated with negative consequences to improve outcomes. Being licensed will allow behavior analysts to be reimbursed by insurers. And, it ensures that families, public school districts, the state Department of Developmental Services (DDS), private insurance, and Medicaid providers have a means of regulating the practices of behavior analysts. Behavior analysts have earned a graduate degree in behavior analysis, education, psychology or a [More]
Tags: Connecticut, Behavior analysts, license, consumer protection, licensure requirement, Behavior Analysis Certification Board, BACB, change behaviors, negative consequences
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October 1st, 2018
By Catherine Robertson Souter
Shortridge Academy, a private co-ed therapeutic boarding school in Milton, New Hampshire, recently announced a unique enrichment program being offered to its students. As part of a community outreach effort, the school has partnered with Granite State Adaptive Sports, a non-profit organization that provides a variety of physical activities for people with disabilities. In the program, a select group of students from the school are given an opportunity to work with Granite State’s clients, coaching and guiding them in various sports. Granite State works with people from age three and up who have physical, cognitive or emotional disabilities as well [More]
Tags: New Hampshire, interpersonal skills, Shortridge Academy, community outreach, Granite State Adaptive Sports, Mik Oyler, self-confidence, residential school, physical disabilities, cognitive disabilities, emotional disabilities
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October 1st, 2018
By Janine Weisman
A residential treatment program for girls with emotional and behavioral problems in Arlington, Massachusetts, shut down in September after a decision by its parent organization to shift focus to community-based services. That decision impacted 150 staff members at the Germaine Lawrence campus on Claremont Avenue operated by the national private non-profit Youth Villages. The vast majority of positions are direct care staff, including several master’s level and licensed positions, nursing and maintenance staff. The program is licensed to serve a maximum of 72 girls between the ages of 12 and 22. But there were only 48 girls on site when [More]
Tags: suicidal ideation, depression, Youth Villages, Germaine Lawrence campus, residential treatment, educational services, girls behavioral program, physical aggression, self-harm, verbal aggression, truancy
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September 14th, 2018
By Phyllis Hanlon
This project was supported by a grant from the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). In a 2017 Washington Post article, former Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy cited emotional well-being and loneliness as one of today’s big public health worries. While the average American might experience isolation and disconnectedness at various times during their lives because of intense career involvement, age discrimination, geographic remoteness or for other reasons, many youth who identify as LGBTQ endure isolation, broken relationships and disconnections on an ongoing basis, sometimes with devastating results. According to David Oberleitner, Ph.D, chair, department of psychology, University of [More]
Tags: gender identity, LGBTQ, isolation, sexual identity, being different, coming out, self-identity, loneliness, broken relationships
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August 31st, 2018
By Catherine Robertson Souter
In a movement that seems to be growing, a ban on mental health professionals providing conversion therapy for people under 18 has been signed into law in 15 states. There have been five bans this year alone. In June, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu signed a bill banning the practice in that state. “There has been a real cultural shift,” said Shannon Bader, Ph.D, A.B.P.P., the legislative chair for the New Hampshire Psychological Association. “We were the 14th state with an outright ban.” Historically, conversion therapy has included everything from instruction on why and how to change to shaming the [More]
Tags: New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, conversion therapy, harmful, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychological Association, American Medical Association, sexual orientation, gender identity
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August 31st, 2018
By Alan Bodnar Ph.D.
You’re sitting in your doctor’s waiting room when the receptionist calls the name of the next patient. No one responds, she calls the name again, and prompted by curiosity, you look up from your magazine to meet her puzzled gaze. She repeats the name, this time adding the surname, and you wonder why she is calling your father. No, wait, Dad is long gone, and then you realize the receptionist is calling you. If you’ve ever had this happen to you, then, like me, you were given a name at birth that no one ever used. In my case, my [More]
Tags: column, first name, middle name, Internal Revenue Service, identification, tax forms, documentation, Biblical names, Puritanical names
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August 30th, 2018
By Eileen Weber
Reports of family separation at the Mexican border set off a firestorm. Video and audio demonstrated the conditions in which the more than 3,000 children lived. An estimated 1,600 parents are still in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With reunification underway, the Trump administration recently admitted that more than 450 immigrant parents separated from their children may have been deported. “I find Trump’s policy of separating children from parents shocking, appalling, and extremely cruel,” said Richard McNally, Ph.D, professor and director of clinical training in the department of psychology at Harvard University. McNally has focused much of his [More]
Tags: children, PTSD, border separation, family separation, immigrants, parents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, IRIS, war-torn areas
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